The Pensacola News Journal celebrates the Dreamers throughout Pensacola and the surrounding areas for its 125th year.

If big things come in small packages, then Pensacola is about to burst with miniature miracle workers.

The three Dreamers we are highlighting in the final installment of our Pensacola Doers, Seekers and Dreamers series are ready to make a monumental difference in their community.

We finish our series by celebrating Pensacola’s Dreamers, the children in our area who have big dreams ans are already paving the way to make our city a better place.

The kindred spirit

Libby White wants to be a doctor in Pensacola someday, and at the tender age of 11 she is already lending a helping hand to those in need.

You don’t see many 11-year-olds spending free time helping out at the United Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Florida center on North E Street, but that is exactly where you will find Libby.

Libby not only serves as a volunteer to the clients but also as a friend.

“One thing that’s very unique about Libby is that we have noticed that she bonds with those clients that are the most physically and mentally involved,” said Dr. Sherry A. White, Libby’s mom and president and CEO of the center. “The ones that others really have a hard time relating to.

“Libby somehow has this gift of bonding with them and they know it, and they feel it,” she said.

As far as Sherry White can remember, Libby has always been this way. Whether it’s clients and patients, the elderly or animals, it’s always been in her nature. Sherry never forced Libby to visit or volunteer with the clients at CP. It’s just in her nature.

“What I do here is I hang out with the patients. I help them. I feed them. I play games with them. I do a lot of stuff with them,” Libby said.

And she also helps with CP’s annual fundraiser, Starfest. The once 24-hour telethon has changed over the years to a community-wide fundraiser leading up to a televised event featuring board members, donors and families.

Libby has raised $10,000 over the past five or six years for Starfest.

With the help of Sherry and Trudy O’Brien, assistant to the president and CEO, Libby printed Starfest donation letters for many of her friends and family. She then took the initiative to follow up with each of her donors to make sure they kept their pledge.

“It makes me feel really good that I’m helping people in the community and volunteering,” Libby said.

Sherry sees Libby’s gift growing throughout high school and in college and has nothing but high expectations for her and what she’ll be bringing to Pensacola’s elderly and disabled.

“I see Libby as their voice, their eyes, their ears. No matter what the setting, she will be there looking, watching, listening, and she will speak up and right a wrong,” she said. “I see her as being a lifetime advocate for the elderly, people with disabilities, animals ... the individuals that can’t speak for themselves.”

The varsity volunteer

Another of Pensacola’s Dreamers comes in the form of an all-around philanthropist and future politician.

Blake Barclay, 14, sees himself attending Harvard or Yale University, and later working in corporate law with his own Pensacola law firm. Constantly keeping up with today’s national and local politics, he also has high aspirations of becoming a senator.

“I’m just really passionate about what I believe in,” he said. “I feel like, well, if I don’t care, who’s gonna care. If our generation doesn’t care, then nothing’s going to get done.”

While Blake has his hands in a variety of activities from regional spelling bees and the Summer Institute for the Gifted at Harvard, to writing his pen pal, Markendy, in Haiti, one of his most notable volunteer programs benefits the Pensacola Ronald McDonald House.

Blake’s mother, Jackie, recalls his interest in volunteering beginning at the age of 8.

“He heard on the radio ... and he said, ‘Momma I wanna help. I wanna do something,’ ” she said.

“So I said, ‘What do you want to do?’ and he said, ‘A bake sale!’ ”

And so began Blake’s annual Ronald McDonald House Bake Sale.

To date, Blake has raised nearly $37,500. He has gone so far above and beyond that he even had a room named for him at Ronald McDonald House — “The Blake Barclay Room.”

“I was just shocked and so grateful,” Blake said.

“I didn’t do it for that. I just did it to help them. It was so nice for that to happen.”

Jackie said Blake has always been a compassionate child, conscientious of the less fortunate.

“He’s always been sensitive to others, and that’s just something that we’ve noticed from an early age. And I think that that’s what given him a heart of wanting to volunteer and help others.”

The pageant patron

And last but certainly not least is Jessica Hatton.

Jessica, 8, said she wants to be a pediatrician in Pensacola one day.

She already participates in a variety of volunteering and fundraising charities, but her main volunteering project is for the Ronald McDonald House’s Kaps 4 Kids program.

One day when Jessica was 5 years old, she and her mom, Vicki, had packed lunch and were on their way to the hospital where Vicki worked. Jessica all of a sudden said she wanted to bake cookies for some of the patients. And it’s been an ongoing effort since the first batch was baked.

“She’s still your typical 8-year-old but she has a huge heart,” Vicki said.

Vicki recalls Jessica’s seventh birthday when she asked for items to donate to the Ronald McDonald House instead of gifts for herself. Jessica raised more than $7,000 last year alone for the House.

She had made her priorities very clear.

“The Ronald McDonald House is more important to me than my birthday,” she said.

Another way Jessica is able to donate to the House and Kaps 4 Kids is through her benefit beauty pageants. For instance, one pageant she participates in is Miss Heart of the USA, a pageant with a purpose benefiting various charities.

All of Jessica’s wins — which can be seen in her roomful of crowns — have all been won with the purpose of helping the Ronald McDonald House.

But of all this pageant philanthropist’s big efforts and accomplishments, her most recent has been in receiving a high honor in recognition of her service to the community: a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from Congressman Jeff Miller.

Following up on her award, Jessica wrote a letter to Miller explaining how she didn’t like that only 4 percent of money goes toward research for kids with cancer and that she thinks it should be more.

Reading from her letter, she said, “Can you please tell me how to help the children? I do not want to see any more sick kids.”

Vicki said that she is proud of her daughter and sees great things coming from her.

“If she keeps up what she’s doing now and doesn’t slow down, her options are wide open,” Vicki said. “There’s so much she could do, and I’m hoping she does keep it up.”

About this series

The Pensacola News Journal’s People of Influence series is recognizing the Doers, who are shaping Pensacola right now; the Seekers, college students and new professionals who are just getting started; and the Dreamers, children who will help shape the next 125 years of life in our region as the PNJ celebrates 125 years of bringing news to the Pensacola area.

We highlight people who want to help our communities reach their collective potential.